Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 06/04/2008

Arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (formally known as Saigon) about midday and found my way to the hotel. Met my roommate the moment I arrived, an aussie girl called Jade. She was lovely so it was a great start to the trip. We weren't due to meet up with the rest of the intrepid group till that night so Jade and I went for our own walking tour.

There is really no way to describe the chaos that is Ho Chi Minh City. There are bikes everywhere! Motorbikes, mopeds and bicycles rule the road, there are thousands of them. Crossing the road is a test of nerves! There is no end to the traffic so you literally have to step out in front of it and let the bikes maneuver around you. It was pretty daunting the first few times but we were experts by the end of the day. They also use the horn constantly! They use it when they're behind someone (just to let them know they're there), they use it when they're passing someone, they use it to warn pedestrians who are crossing the road, they use it out of annoyance and they use it for fun. Vietnam roads are very noisy!

We found the Notre Dame Cathedral which is a beautiful church but unfortunately it was closed so didn't get a chance to go in. We also found the post office, a neat old building where I sent my first test letter.

Jade & I went to the Reunification Palace which is the old residence of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and the site where the tanks broke through the grounds and official handover was given on April 30, 1975. They had English speaking tours and it turned out to be very interesting. The rooms were still exactly as they were back in 1975 and we checked out the basement war rooms with the maps and old communication equipment. They also had 2 tanks and a helicopter on site.

After the palace we headed to the War Remnants Museum, this is a museum dedicated to photos and stories about the war. Unfortunately it was very graphic and I felt pretty ill by the end of it. They had very graphic photos of the war, including piles of dead bodies and victims of napalm and agent orange. The only respite was a collection of photos on MAG (mines advisory group), who work to remove land mines in various countries, and the families they've helped.

Back at the hotel we met with the rest of the Intrepid group. It's quite nice writing this a week down the track as I remember everyones names so here's the breakdown:

Singles - Me, Jade, Sarah (both 20s from Melbourne)
Friends - Kelly & Leah (20s from Melbourne)
Family - Jo & Anna (mother & daughter from Aussie)
Other - Sharon & John (married), Gary (Sharon's brother) all from Aussie, bit older
Couple - Denise & Mike (older, maybe early 60s from Cairns Aussie)

Our tour leader is named Giang (pronounced like Young) and is a Vietnamese guy from Hue. He's got a great sense of humour and is a lot of fun.

We had our first group dinner that night, a Mexican restaurant (an interesting start but I think Giang was thinking we'd have enough Vietnamese in the next few weeks so start off easy). I was simply impressed because their dessert consisted of "100% New Zealand icecream", what a way to start the Vietnamese cuisine!

Giang taught us some basic Vietnamese
Hello - Xin Chau
Goodbye - Tam Biet
Thank you - Cam arn (not correct spelling)
Oh My! - Oy Che Oy! (again not correct spelling but our favourite so far!)

The motto for our tour group has become "why the hell not!" and we have used it on many occasions when trying to decide whether to do an activity or try a new food.

Vietnam is very different to Thailand as it receives far fewer tourists. Many people don't know english, or only know basics. There are no English translated signs, although most places have english menus thankfully (since they eat some strange meats here!). I am very glad I decided on a tour for Vietnam as I would have struggled on my own and wouldn't have seen half the things I have.